Tuesday night, D mentioned that his PDA reminded him that we had an OB appointment the next morning. I told him he must have mixed up his dates since the appointment was on Thursday morning. On a whim, Wednesday morning I checked my day planner. OOPS! Luckily, it was early enough to dash out the door and make it to the doctor's office in time. Is this the pregnancy brain kicking in?
Today I'm 17 weeks, 4 days. The appointment was pretty low-key this morning: weigh-in, blood pressure check, question and answer, listening to the baby's heartbeat (yeah!) and then a flu shot. Despite the belly in the picture, I'm only up 6 pounds from the beginning of this process. My blood pressure was fine, and the baby's heartbeat was 120 beats per minute...a little low, but still within the normal range. Flu shots are recommended for pregnant ladies, and I'm hoping I don't have any adverse reactions.
One of the questions and answers we considered with our doctor was having blood drawn for an AFP test. As I understand it, maternal AFP (alpha-fetoprotein) levels in the blood can provide an initial marker for an increased risk of a baby having neural tube defects or Down Syndrome. Unfortunately the AFP test has a very high false positive rate (some numbers I've seen are an 80-90% false positive rate). To be more conclusive, if an AFP test comes back positive, most doctors will suggest a Level II ultrasound, followed by performing an amniocentesis, so that fetal genetics can be directly tested. The big draw back to an amniocentesis (other than the giant needle being stuck into your pregnant belly) is the 1-2% fetal loss rate. That number is too high for D and I to even consider getting an amniocentesis done, even if an AFP test came back positive.
Since D and I feel that terminating the pregnancy in the case of a baby with neural tube defects and/or Down Syndrome is not an option we would pursue, we have opted not to get the AFP test and the associated procedures that would come with a potential positive result. People could argue that if there was a genetic or physical anomaly with the baby discovered before birth, we would have given ourselves a few months to make sure that any services we might need would be in place. We've decided to go with the "Life will all work out, we'll just take it as it comes" approach.
1 comment:
You know what they say about a slow heart rate......(1st, they never tell you who they are, 2nd "they" probable never had kids!) Maybe it's an old wives tale, but......they say slow for a boy & fast for a girl. Not that that means anything! Maggie Kate's was slow!!!!
Just keep on doing what you're doing. Stay healthy & continue to have fun enjoying this!!!
Love to you both, Aunt Susie
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